The awaited second edition of theONTOCHAIN Summit for a Trustworthy Internet is set to take place on 22 June 2023, providing an opportunity for the entire EU web3 ecosystem to gain valuable insights from experts, engage in meaningful discussions, and meet the achievements of the ONTOCHAIN Project, after nearly three years of intense project implementation.
At the core of the ONTOCHAIN Summit will be a Keynote Speech about Scalability, Replicability & Exploitability for blockchain-based applications at the EU level, followed by a Roundtable discussion. Experts from diverse fields will converge to analyse the topic from multifaceted perspectives, offering valuable insights and stimulating discussions.
The event will take place online and registration is free.
To maintain the momentum generated by the ONTOCHAIN Summit, two online hackathons will be hosted, inviting participants to demonstrate their skills in developing innovative applications to solve real-world challenges, on top of the ONTOCHAIN software ecosystem services:
Hackathon #1 - Developing trustworthy applications that address human rights (23 & 24 of June)
Hackathon #2 - Developing trustworthy applications for commerce & other services (30 of June & 01 of July)
This will be a great opportunity for web3 innovators to network with other like-minded individuals, gain valuable experience in developing blockchain-based applications and win one of the 6 prizes up to €3,000.
Applications for the online ONTOCHAIN Hackathons are open until 15 June 2023 (17:00 CEST) and participation is limited to 20 teams per Hackathon.
Taler Systems SAis a technology company specialising in creating free software for digital payment systems. Our flagship product, theGNU Taler System, isa privacy-respecting digital payment system with built-in age restrictions that allows for fast and secure transactions with anonymity for the buyer. The Taler system uses established cryptography, ensuring that transactions are processed quickly and securely with user privacy. This makes the GNU Taler system ideal for use in various industries, including e-commerce, micropayments, and the sharing economy. The GNU Taler system is highly scalable, allowing it to handle many transactions per second on cheap and power-saving hardware.
Overall, the GNU Taler system offers a unique solution for anyone looking to securely and anonymously process digital payments in the spirit of GDPR. GNU Taler works for standard and crypto-currencies.
HOW DID THE PROJECT BEGIN?
Working on a decentralized privacy-preserving Next Generation Internet, it was clear that we needed a privacy-preserving payment system. However, blockchains were not a socially desirable solution due to their high environmental and social cost.
DID YOU HAVE A CONCEPT OF YOUR FINAL PROJECT IDEA, OR DID IT EVOLVE DURING THE PROCESS?
We have over time, added various features based on ideas from the team or requirements brought to us from third parties, but the basic idea of building a privacy-preserving payment system has remained unchanged.
GNU Taler Team
MEET THE TEAM
We are a global community of Free Software developers and privacy activists with roots in the GNU project. We have contributors of all genders from ages 14 to 70 years and over a dozen countries speaking various natural and programming languages, trying to follow the culture of the GNU way of communicating.
GNU Taler has repeatedly received support from NGI NGI funded the first external security audit of the protocol and core implementation, the integration into the e-commerce solution WooCommerce with usability studies, scalability experiments on the Grid5000, age-restrictions, escrow and peer-to-peer payments, accessibility reviews to ensure the payment system is usable by blind people and is providing ongoing funding for enhancements to support regional currencies and the development of a Taler wallet on iOS.
HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT NGI?
We probably first learned about NGI during consultations that resulted in the inception of the NGI program.
WHAT WAS THE STATUS OF YOUR PROJECT/TECHNOLOGY SITUATION BEFORE APPLYING FOR NGI FUNDING?
At the time of our first NGI funding for GNU Taler, we had a first working prototype with academic publications backing the idea but no external reviews of the Taler-specific code.
WILL YOU BE TAKING THE IDEA FURTHER NOW THAT THE SUPPORT FROM NGI IS OVER? PLEASE OUTLINE A LITTLE ABOUT HOW THE PROJECT CONTINUES TO BE USED OR TO EVOLVE.
NGI support is still ongoing, and we hope that with continued support, we will be able to bring GNU Taler into the European market as a payment solution operated by retail or central banks.
WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING PART OF THE NGI COMMUNITY?
Among NGI projects, what is great is that we find mutual respect for certain core values (Free Software, informational self-determination). And with respect to the NGI administration organizations, we appreciate the reasonably fast decisions and low administrative overheads.
WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT THE NGI COMMUNITY?
We appreciate that Libre Software is a respected core value that has no boundaries for collaboration among NGI projects, and no one asks us to justify business plans based on Libre Software licensing and support models.
HOW DO YOU SUPPORT WOMEN IN STEM?
The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race, ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political views. We do not have a special treatment when it comes to gender, we welcome talented, enthusiastic and motivated folks from all genders and parts of the world.
HOW HAS THE COMMUNITY USED THE TOOL FOR OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE?
Operating GNU Taler, in general, is expected to require an e-money issuer license. We are still adding required AML and KYC features that seem necessary before anyone can legally use the payment system at scale. However, members of the community have already successfully used the payment system to handle payments for drinks at a conference and it is also in limited operation at the BFH.
Taler Systems vending machine
COULD YOU EXPLAIN IN SIMPLE TERMS WHAT IS NEW AND ORIGINAL IN YOUR PROJECT?
GNU Taler offers one-sided privacy, where the person making a payment remains anonymous to the other party and the payment system operators, while anyone receiving payments can be easily identified by the operator. This prevents mass surveillance in the private domain (where we spend money) while preventing criminals from using the system to receive money for illegal business activities or evading taxation.
WHAT PROBLEM DOES YOUR PROJECT SOLVE?
There is no privacy-preserving, usable, efficient and legal payment system for the Internet.
PLEASE EXPLAIN A LITTLE ABOUT ANY MARKETING OR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES AROUND THE PROJECT?
Taler Systems SA is a start-up dedicated to further developing and commercially supporting the GNU Taler software.
TOWARDS THE END OF THE PROJECT, WHAT WAS THE EVOLUTION OF THE IDEA?
Initially, we focused on the protocols, then the user interfaces, and now we are focusing more on community-requested features, performance and compliance.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 5/10 YEARS?
In 10 years, GNU Taler will either be the technology backing the Digital Euro, or GNU Taler, will be the technology that made the Digital Euro project of the European Central Bank obsolete, or we will be “enjoying” life without liberty under a government in absolute control.
La Coalición EU4Ocean sobre alfabetización
oceánica, apoyada por la Comisión Europea (CE), se creó hace ahora casi tres
años. Como continuación de su campaña #MakeEUBlue, EU4Ocean ha organizado un
concurso anual, los premios #MakeEUBlue, que reconocen el progreso en la
alfabetización oceánica en Europa. Los premios tienen como objetivo crear
conciencia sobre la importancia de los mares y fomentar iniciativas de
alfabetización oceánica con vista a largo plazo.
El premio principal se otorga a la iniciativa
que mejor sintoniza con la filosofía EU4Ocean. De este modo, se animó a las
tres comunidades EU4Ocean (EU4Ocean Platform, Youth4Ocean y EU Network of Blue
Schools) a involucrarse en los Premios.
Los tres ganadores principales, elegidos como
primero, segundo y tercer puesto respectivamente, son:
El proyecto MedByCatch está desarrollando un enfoque estandarizado de
múltiples taxones para estudiar y mitigar la captura incidental en el
Mediterráneo. Las actividades se implementan en las aguas del Mediterráneo de
Marruecos, Túnez, Turquía, Italia y Croacia. El proyecto tiene como objetivo
crear conciencia sobre el problema de la captura incidental de especies
vulnerables y generar apoyo para las acciones que abordan este problema, así
como proporcionar datos sólidos sobre el impacto de las operaciones de pesca en
la megafauna marina. El proyecto fue elegido en base a su ambición hacia un
tema desafiante que se tradujo en resultados muy positivos, enfoque operativo y
una perspectiva de cuenca marina.
El proyecto, financiado por el Ministerio italiano de Universidades e
Investigación, tiene como objetivo involucrar a jóvenes estudiantes de
diferentes escuelas en Foggia, una ciudad en el sur de Italia con altas tasas
de abandono escolar, pobreza educativa, degradación social y delincuencia
juvenil. El objetivo principal es ofrecer la oportunidad de adquirir
habilidades durante un nuevo enfoque de aprendizaje activo, lo que lleva a
reflexionar sobre su papel en el planeta y adoptar soluciones para proteger la
naturaleza. El proyecto fue elegido como Classic Blue gracias a su enfoque de
múltiples escuelas con una fuerte perspectiva de desarrollo personal y
responsabilidad colectiva. El proyecto también ha recibido la puntuación de
votación pública más alta.
REMAR III es un proyecto financiado por
la Fundación Biodiversidad para capacitar y sensibilizar para la protección de
los océanos, fomentando oportunidades laborales para personas con discapacidad
intelectual. El proyecto involucra decenas de jornadas de limpieza de basura
marina en las que se llegó a la comunidad a través de un fuerte esfuerzo de
comunicación y difusión. También se logró la cooperación con las asociaciones
profesionales locales (confrarías) para brindar capacitación a los pescadores y
al personal de las embarcaciones. Se llevaron a cabo varias jornadas de
formación por toda Galicia. El proyecto fue elegido en base a su claro enfoque
práctico, aumentando la alfabetización oceánica a través de acciones de
voluntariado ambiental, capacitación en gestión de residuos y financiación.
Además de estos tres
premios se hicieron cuatro menciones especiales
Proyecto del
Instituto de Educación de la Universidad de Lisboa que crea un recurso
educativo que involucra un conjunto de memorias relacionadas con la pesca del
bacalao, con el objetivo de promover el aprendizaje ambiental y socialmente
relevante utilizando el bacalao como una "especie bandera" para
mejorar el patrimonio vinculado a la pesca del bacalao y promover una mayor
conciencia sobre la sostenibilidad de la pesca.
Proyecto piloto de la iniciativa Erasmus
Maris, coordinado por Ayam Sailing Europe, Bélgica, que crea una alianza
estratégica en Europa entre los sectores de educación formal, educación no
formal e investigación científica para involucrar a las escuelas secundarias en
la creación conjunta de nuevos conocimientos relacionados con la preservación
del medio marino y las aguas.
Una iniciativa de
varias escuelas que promueve la alfabetización oceánica con
interdisciplinariedad, impactos sociales, asociación comunitaria y
responsabilidad por la protección del río Sado como componentes centrales.
Un proyecto de la escuela primaria
"Josip Pupačić", Croacia, que se basa en la educación abierta y el
aprendizaje basado en problemas para integrar la alfabetización oceánica de
niños y jóvenes en el plan de estudios y la política ambiental de la escuela.
